


Little Girl Lost

by PeroxidePirate



Series: One Small Change [1]
Category: Tortall - Pierce
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-12
Updated: 2010-04-12
Packaged: 2017-10-08 21:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeroxidePirate/pseuds/PeroxidePirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wrote some other stories in an AU in which Kel has to disguise herself as a boy to train for knighthood. This is the very beginning of that story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The sound of a twig snapping made Coram Smytheson look up from his work. A small boy, not more than seven or eight, strode purposefully across the castle grounds. His threadbare tunic had once been quite good, and he carried a battered saddlebag over one shoulder.

“Excuse--” The boy's voice broke, and he began to cough. “Excuse me, sir!” He tried again. “I was wondering if you'd be willing to hire a stablehand?”

“Well, now.” Coram crossed his arms over his belly. “And that would be ye?”

“That's right, sir. I'm out of food, you see, and I've nothing to trade. But I can work for my food. I'm strong for my age, and I don't tire easily.”

The lad's tunic, Coram realized, was blue trimmed in gray. “Are ye from Mindelan?”

“Oh, no,” the boy said, seriously. “That is, I'm from the village near there.”

He was obviously lying, but Coram only nodded. Mindelan was the next fief but one, nearly forty miles from Trebond. “Here.” He held out his waterskin. “Drink up. You're parched.”

“Does that mean I have the job?”

“I'll have to ask my lord. What's your name, boy?”

“Keladry, sir. And I'm a girl. Sir.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Lord Alan?” Coram called, pushing open the study door.

“What is it?” snapped the Lord of Trebond.

“There's someone I think you should meet.”

The short, narrow-shouldered occupant of the study ran fingers through unruly red hair. “You know I'm not much for society. Not since my illness.”

“I said naught about society.” The guardsman ushered a curious, mousy-haired child into the room. “This is Keladry, who comes from Mindelan. She's looking for work as a stablehand.”

The knight waved a dismissive hand. “Take care of it, will you, Coram? Surely you know if we need a stablehand or not.”

“This is different,” Coram insisted, making his way further into the room. “Keladry, tell Lord Alan what you told me.”

Throughout the exchange, Keladry had looked from knight to guardsman, fascinated by the way Coram refused to take no for an answer. She didn't know why he should go against his lord on her behalf, but she vowed then and there to make him proud.

“I ran away from home,” she began. “Mother died last year, on the Island. Father brought us back to Tortall as soon as he could. He said I'm to stay here, with Anders and Vorinna, when he goes back to the Islands. But Anders is never home – he's a knight, so he's always on border duty – and Vorinna doesn't have time for me. She said so. She said she can't wait until I'm old enough that she can pack me off to the convent, but in the meantime, I'll have to start behaving like a lady. And I don't want to be a lady. I want to be a knight. Like Anders. And if I can't do that, I'll be a stablehand. My lord.”


	3. Chapter 3

“It's simple,” Coram insisted. “Mindelan has more children than he knows what to do with, especially now he's a widower. Why shouldn't the youngest be fostered by a neighboring fief?”

Alanna's eyes narrowed, suspiciously. “Why should she be?” she countered. “Does this have anything to do with the disappointment I've been?”

“Just the opposite,” he growled. “That child'll never be a lady, any more than ye will.”

“You'll make her a knight, instead? So she can sit alone in a castle on a hill, being useless, with no friends and no duty...”

“Ye chose that part – leastwise, the sitting alone part. Ye do have friends. Ye've got me, and Rispah, and our brood. Ye've got the Rogue himself, still, travelin' leagues and leagues just to see ye. Ye've got little Thom, and I know it must be hard, seeing him raised as one of mine--”

“You still don't understand!” Alanna bellowed. “I'm a trained and blooded knight and I can't use my skills because there's no way I could fit back into that corset!”

“I'm sorry,” she continued after a moment. “I didn't mean to yell.”

“Well, now.” Coram patted her back, just as he had when she was a child. “Maybe we won't make Keladry a knight, then. At least we can give her a few more years before she has to be a lady. Did ye know she's only six years old?”


End file.
